Application of membrane filtration to Optimize COD removal in Palm Oil Effluent

Introduction
Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a wastewater produced from the palm oil mill industry. The
extraction of crude palm oil from the fruit requires a huge amount of water. It is estimated to
produce 1 tons of crude palm oil, is required 5- 7.5 tons of water. Unfortunately, 50% of the
water will end up as POME. This wastewater, if not handled properly, will contaminate the
environment In this work, response surface methods are used to optimize the removal of
chemical oxygen demand (COD) in palm oil mill effluent.
Experimental design and results

In this study, the central composite design (CCD) was used to design the experiments (DOE)
using JMP
(Table 1).

No. of run Concentration of pH Trans COD, ppm

POME, % membrane
pressure, kPa
1 90 11 2.5 74
2 90 11 0.5 65.67
3 0 7 1.5 33
4 10 11 0.5 30
5 50 7 1.5 48.67
6 50 12 1.5 40
7 90 3 2.5 108
8 10 11 2.5 33.33
9 10 3 2.5 36.67
10 90 3 0.5 96
11 50 7 2.75 60.67
12 50 7 1.5 52.67
13 10 3 0.5 32
14 50 7 1.5 44
15 50 7 1.5 47.33
16 100 7 1.5 107
17 50 2 1.5 60.67
18 50 7 1.5 44.07
19 50 7 0.25 36.67
20 50 7 1.5 51.67

According to the report, the prediction expression is as following:

Conclusion:

As we can see from the results, all three factors are important. Moreover, between pH and
concentration of POME. RSquare of model is 0.98 which means that model fits nicely.

As the scope of this work is to minimize the concentration of COD, contour plot was used. As it can be
seen from this plot, minimum concentration of COD appears at high pH, low concentration of POM and
low pressure.